Top 10 Reasons Why MotoGP is Awesome: #4 — Power Slides and Leg Drags

While riding a MotoGP around a track at very high speeds, things probably will not go as smoothly as you would like them. But a lot of those times, bad events do not turn into a crash for instance, but rather a very remarkable power slide.

An excellent example of this is shown below by Casey Stoner.


It certainly shows that the rider is in control and although is probably not the fastest way to go around a corner, but certainly looks pretty cool. A track where this kind of thing happens quite a bit is at Phillip Island in Australia. The track is fast and flowing, so the riders are always carrying a lot of speed around the corners.

Pictures are amazing to see this stuff, but to really do it justice, a video needs to be shown. So, here a couple of examples. One is of Stoner and Rossi sliding around during the race at Phillip Island in 2009 and can be viewed here. The other example is of Stoner during a practice session in 2010 and can be found here, with tire streaks and all.

Another interesting thing that some of the riders seem to do is to dangle their leg off the bike into the corner. When asked about it, none of the riders seem to have a reason as to why they do it. Some say that it helps with braking and allows them to do it later, as the weight distribution is shifted. Others think that it is used to block riders behind them from coming on the inside and passing in the corner.

Rossi seemed to have invented this technique with others following suit. So here is a picture of The Doctor dangling his leg.